Referencing Stephen426's example above, it would seem to me that the whole issue is whether your finger is, or isn't, on the trigger. If hearing a surprise "bang" while in a state of heightened stress is sufficient to trigger someone's hand to squeeze what it's holding, and is enough to overcome a 12 or 14 lb trigger weight, then surely the stress of grappling with an attacker would do at least that?A lot of good solid advice in Carl the Floor Walker's post. And I agree that in the heat of battle, fine motor skills may not be possible. Close in attackers, at arm's reach, or actual physical contact as in a fist swinging fight, are no place for a light trigger. Again, Good post Carl.
Tunnel, you've had a good deal of training in force on force and weapon retention if I've read your posts accurately over the years...what say you?
Rod
This gets back to the basis for my question -- and I'm not arguing or challenging, just probing --
I've had several instances in which a DA trigger has saved me from taking an errant shot in a competition because my sights weren't perfectly aligned, or a moving target had just passed behind a "no-shoot" barrier. But that's a situation in which I'm calmly aligning my sights and squeezing the trigger like I've been trained to do.
Since fine motor skills may not be available during a fight, then if my finger is too close to the trigger when something causes me to squeeze both hands, whether that trigger weighs 6 lb or 12, has 1" of travel or 0.1", won't I yank that sucker and fire the gun?
One instructor I've had gave the advice to carry your index finger up along the ejection port, rather than just along the side of the frame. It seemed really awkward at first, but sure enough, when push comes to shove (literally, he shoved me backwards and my hands clenched as I dug in and went into a defensive position) my finger got stuck in the port in the first case, and went right onto (and pulled) the (12 lb) trigger on my CZ.
Anyways, again, I'm not arguing for its own sake, I'm trying to understand whether a heavier/longer trigger actually makes a difference under stress.
(Other scenarios, like manipulating the gun, or just the other 99% of the time we're shooting and not under stress, may be enough to justify the heavier trigger all by themselves. Under normal circumstances, I'm definitely persuaded that a heavy trigger has safety advantages, without accuracy loss if I train enough. )